Pedagogic frailty: A concept analysis

Ian M. Kinchin

Abstract

This paper adopts the approach of a map-enhanced concept analysis of pedagogic frailty with the intention of increasing clarity of purpose of the model and to promote more explicit discussion on how the term could be used positively within the educational research literature. Examples that are given here show that commonly used expressions such as ‘teaching excellence’ and ‘research-led teaching’ contain so much variation in meaning as to be misleading in their use. The maps offered show different perspectives in aspects of pedagogic frailty, such as those that may be perceived by an external examiner to a programme. The recurrence of frailty at varying levels of resolution and at different times within an evolving Higher Education context means that management of frailty and resilience should be embedded as a constant, dynamic activity within an institution, rather than a single-shot intervention.